LiberatedKnowledge Wiki:Writing about race, ethnicity and nationality
Most of the time, a person's race, ethnicity and nationality will be simple to write about. Race LiberatedKnowledge takes the perspective that race is the physical features that vary in different regions of the world. For example, a person of northern European ancestry will have light-colour skin, straight or curly hair, which may be many different colours, and may different eye colours). In most cases, it will not be necessary to mention a person's race, unless the person's race is something that they are well-known for. For example, Barak Obama is well-known for being the first black president of the United States of America. Ethnicity Ethnicity is the social grouping based on shared culture in a certain country or region. Two people can be the same race but be different ethnicities. For example, Tutsi and Hutu people are both black. Most people would not be able to identify any outward differences between a Tutsi person and a Hutu person, but they are two seperate ethnic groups. As with race, in most cases it will not be necessary to say what ethnicity a person is. If it is necessary to discuss someone's ethnicity, the person's ethnicity should be regarded as the ethnicity the person identifies as. Nationality Most people are born a country and live their all their life. For example, an actor who was born in Mexico and currently lives there would be described as a Mexican actor. Sometimes, a person's nationality can be less clear. In these cases, the nationality the person identifies as should be used. For example, someone who was born in Uganda, but moved to the UK at the age of two might identify as Ugandan or they might identify as British, or as Ugandan-British. If the person has never said what nationality they identify as, the article should describe them as Ugandan-British. The identity of the country the person moved away from or decends from should come first, and the country the person currently lives in should come last. For example, Italian-American or French Canadian. The sovereign state a person lives in should be used as their nationality. For instance, a person is British rather than English, Scottish, Welsh or Northern Irish. However, if a person identifies as a citizen of a country which does not have full recognition (such as Palestine), that should be given as the person's nationality. For example, a person who identifies as being from Palestine should is a Palestinian rather than Israeli person. In cases where a country did not exist as a sovereign state at the time when a person was alive, the country they lived in at the time may be used. It may be helpful to name the modern-day state. For instance, a person from Prussia-a country which no longer exists and is now mostly Germany- would be described as Prussian. Similarly, it is acceptable to describe English, Scottish and Welsh people who lived before the formation of the United Kingdom as English, Scottish or Welsh. Category:LK Policy